Call for steep licence fee increase to be explained

Johannesburg - The Justice Project South Africa has called on Transport Minister Joe Maswanganyi to justify, or at the very least explain, the 71 percent increase in eNaTIS vehicle licence fees for 2018.

Earlier in October Maswangani announced that as from 1 February 2018, an amount of R72 (an increase of R30) would be added to the renewal fees for all motor vehicle licenses as a transaction fee to be paid to the RTMC.

Remember, this RTMC fee that is meant to fund Aarto in order to keep track of you and your fines, is in addition to the annual licence fee that you pay your local registering authority. This means that renewing your vehicle license next year is likely to cost more than R300 in total.

As JPSA points out, the 71.43 percent RTMC fee increase, from R42 to R72, exceeds the current inflation rate (4.8 percent as at August) by almost 15 times. The previous year saw the fee increase by 16.67 percent from R36 to R42.

JPSA added that the RTMC managed to rake in R453 143 790 in transaction fees in the 2016/17 financial year, a 7.93 percent increase over the previous financial year, despite fewer transactions having taken place.

In addition, the CEO’s salary increased by 31.6 percent, from R5 950 000 to R7 830 000 during the same period, while the remuneration packages of other senior management staff increased by an average of 19.1 percent.

“The recent termination of the RTMC’s contract with Tasima, which contact was unlawfully renewed by former Minister S’bu Ndebele in 2010, should have had the effect of decreasing the input and maintenance costs of the eNaTIS vehicle and driver registry,” JPSA said.

“Therefore, beyond increasing the outrageously high remuneration packages which are paid to RTMC executives and Board members, there appears to be no rational reason for the truly massive increase in transaction fees the Minister has proclaimed.”